Entries for 'Dr Paul K Hatchwell'

It is well known that Germany has made impressive inroads into a decarbonised economy with renewables, but even at the local scale, it leads on retrofitting of buildings, boosted by powerful incentives. Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks at key examples of progress and what lessons there could be for the UK sustainable building industry and microgeneration.

Despite a growing emphasis on sustainable building in the construction industry, now rapidly becoming mainstream through revised and new Government planning policies, regulatory reforms and Government-backed initiatives such as BREEAM, Dr Paul K Hatchwell finds little hard data on how well these changes are reflected in actual building performance.

Sustainable building practices are slowly moving into the commercial refurbishment and retrofit market, driven by both legislative requirements and good corporate housekeeping considerations. In the final part of a series on sustainable retrofit, Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks particularly at energy issues facing the sustainable offices sector

The Ordnance Survey is on course to relocate over 1,000 staff from central Southampton to a new, £40m prestige headquarters north of Southampton by 2009. Dr Paul K Hatchwell explores how OS has used the opportunity to adopt a wide range of sustainable building features in the project enabling a 45% cut in workplace CO₂ emissions.

A consultation document* outlining the Government’s formal proposals on new eco towns seeks views on both the principle and shortlist of proposed sites as an intense debate rages over the appropriateness of the concept as a means of achieving sustainable development. Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks at the Government’s plans and key issues raised in them for sustainable building. 

Isle of Wight Council (IWC) has committed to transforming itself into “the first truly sustainable island”, with a package of measures launched at its first Eco-Island conference providing a major boost for sustainable building and renewables. Dr Paul K Hatchwell reports from Cowes on a remarkable policy shift.

Major strains on water supply and increased flood risk linked to climate change threaten, particularly in the South East of England, yet only now is the full extent of the potential crisis prompting a fundamental rethink of Government water and housing policy, with sustainable building best-placed to exploit the much stricter regime. Dr Paul K Hatchwell investigates the implications

One of the challenges and opportunities in urban sustainable retrofit is how to integrate existing higher density developments into sustainable community heating networks in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks at a potentially huge market

Refurbishing high-rise and high density residential blocks is complex enough without retrofitting new sustainability features, but developers and local authorities are now faced with upgrading existing stock. Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks at the lessons learned.

A US survey has found that up to three quarters of American architects agree that climate change is a global, human-induced problem, and that a majority are in favour of taking mitigation measures. Dr Paul K Hatchwell reports on the considerable momentum in the US market, in many ways paralleling UK developments. 

Most of the residential buildings of 2050 are already standing today, so sustainability performance in existing buildings is crucial to a low carbon future. High density residential blocks in particular present both considerable mitigation opportunities and challenges. Dr Paul K Hatchwell analyses support, regulation and trends at a time of rapid change, revealing a very mixed picture. 

Proposed changes to DCLG technical guidance* for the Code for Sustainable Homes will have substantial implications, not least where community-scale generation is under consideration, but not all will be satisfied. In the third part of an investigation into CSH and associated guideline proposals, Dr Paul K Hatchwell assesses the impact of proposals to change technical guidance covering criteria for sustainable energy.